Avoid high power charges with smart power allocation
Electricity network companies are gradually introducing so-called power tariffs or power charges and this is something that is good to know if you intend to install large-scale charging facilities. There is a lot of money to be saved. With the right software, companies and housing associations can minimize the risk of being hit by high charges. At ChargeNode, we have installed power-smart EV charging in 40,000 sockets around the country and are happy to help you think long-term.
By January 1, 2027, all electricity network companies must have introduced a new pricing model that includes a power tariff, or power charge as it is also known. It’s a new way of paying for electricity where the cost is based not only on how much electricity you use, but also on when and how much electricity you use at the same time. And of course, this affects a company, a housing association or a community. If many people use a lot of electricity at the same time, like in the morning or evening when everyone is cooking or charging their cars, then the grid will be under more strain and it can be more expensive. On the other hand, if you use electricity when not many people do, for example at night, it can be cheaper. The purpose of power tariffs is simply to spread out electricity use to reduce the risk of overloading the grid. Therefore, it is important for plant owners to think ahead and invest in power-smart technologies that help manage costs and make electricity consumption more efficient.
To address your utility’s goal of a flat power curve, you should consider installing a power-smart charging system. All other suppliers base their solutions on arrival-based charging, where the car starts charging as soon as the driver connects the cable to the charging box. And this can be a problem. If all the power is already taken up by connected cars, a car arriving later may risk being left without charging even if it is going first. In the case of arrival-based charging, the system does not know when the cars will be used. To increase the likelihood that the cars are charged before departure, the peak power must therefore be increased. ChargeNode’s system is instead based on departure-based charging. We simply ask when your car should be fully charged. Based on that information, the system can optimize who gets charged at what time. This way, everyone gets charged, but not at the same time, helping to minimize the risk of high power charges.
With load balancing, the system communicates with the charging stations and the building’s other electricity consumption, which means that the charging stations do not consume more electricity than the building can supply. By also choosing a departure-based and power-smart charging system, the available charging capacity is optimally distributed between departure times, the charging capacity of the cars and the desired charging, which means that power peaks are avoided. The combination of load balancing and departure-based charging allows the facility owner to keep their electricity consumption down and thus avoid expensive power charges. In short, avoid high power charges with smart power distribution.
By installing ChargeNode’s smart charging system, power is automatically distributed over time according to when each car needs to travel. This makes it possible to reduce the cost of power and even out the load on the electricity grid. In a charging facility with 25 charging points, you often need to go up to 125A to cover the charging need when you do not have the opportunity to control charging according to departure time. ChargeNode’s solution, where charging is distributed over time, can meet the charging needs of a facility with only 63A. As a facility owner, you can save SEK 30,000 – 40,000 every year just by solving the demand for charging with a lower electricity subscription.
Power is the amount of electricity used at the same time. If an electric car is charged immediately on arrival without regard to when it actually needs to be ready, high power is required. If the car is charged for a longer time, the power output is lower. However, the energy consumption is the same, as long as the battery has been charging for the same amount of time.
The electricity network company that owns the electricity network where you live charges you for the transmission of the electricity you use. The so-called network tariff (or network tariff, network subscription and network charge) often has a fixed and several variable parts. The power tariff (also called power tariff, power subscription and power charge) is a network tariff where at least one of the variable charges is a charge for the electricity you consume hour by hour (the power you use). The power charge should be based on the individual customer’s use of the electricity network and the total load on the electricity network. It should also be time-differentiated, which means that it should be different at different times to reflect how the load on the electricity network varies over time.
Charge Node Europé AB
Neongatan 4B
431 53 Mölndal
ChargeNode integrates the payment solution with many leasing companies such as Ziklo Bank, Autoplan, Leaseplan, Bilreda and others.
We can integrate with your own business-critical financial and operational monitoring systems to make charging an integral part of your business with minimal administration.
Advanced troubleshooting and remediation.
If you prefer digital contact with us over the phone – no problem, we offer automated support via our AI bot on the website.
Web-based help center with instructive videos and texts explaining how our portal and app work.
Personalized service around the clock.
Personalized service around the clock.
We offer different levels of service based on your needs.
Collect all your charges on a single invoice with our business account. Convenient for those with pool or staff cars.
Public charging points with a power above 50kW must offer payment with a physical payment terminal. We offer a pre-integrated payment terminal through our partner Adyen – pre-configured with our intuitive interface for selecting charging outlets and charging status.
Want to use your own app? We offer integration with other apps via the industry-standard OCPI protocol.
Pay without an app by scanning the QR code on the charging socket and entering payment card information. Support for ApplePay/GooglePay makes this an easy and attractive option for infrequent shoppers such as passing tourists.
As a charging customer, you always have free access to the ChargeNode mobile app for iOS and Android. Here you can easily activate charging, see a map view of ChargeNode’s public charging points and receive ongoing information about charging status. Here we can also provide information and help with the service. If your company is connected to ChargeNode, you can easily switch between private and business charging. You can also easily charge without the app via an assigned RFID tag.
Charge easily with ApplePay/GooglePay!
Fast, secure and contactless – choose Apple Pay or Google Pay at checkout for an easier payment experience, directly from your mobile.
Export of all session data and history for import into a separate BI tool.
Access to all invoices and invoice specifications as downloadable pdf.
In our portal, you can easily view and update the price for your area. You choose how you want to control pricing – we offer three flexible options:
Fixed price
With a fixed price you set a specific price per kWh including VAT.
Variable Monthly Price
The Variable Monthly option follows the current Nord Pool price based on the electricity area you belong to.
Scheduled price
Scheduled price allows you to set different prices for different times of the day or different days of the week.
Easily manage who can access your charge points, create member groups and price discounts.
Our powerful dashboard gives you a complete overview of your charging facility – from energy consumption and power peaks to charging patterns and unique users. Visualize user data, identify areas for improvement and make smarter decisions based on real insights.
Connect sockets to a specific user profile to automatically start charging when the cable is plugged in.
Start and stop charging with RFID tag.
Direct connection to Nordpool for loading spot prices (of hourly and quarterly prices). Enables smart pricing models to maximize the profitability of your charging portfolio.
System support to support the loyal network owner or Svenska Kraftnät when needed.
Restart the charge points automatically in case of power failure (Hardware dependent)
Prioritize individual outlets for e.g. mission-critical operations such as pool cars, service cars to ensure that the cars are always prioritized for charging so that operations do not stop. When priority outlets are not active, available power is distributed to other outlets to constantly maximize the charging capacity of the entire system
A dynamic power schedule gives you full control over the maximum power of your plant – adapted to the daily load and grid cost. The graph above shows how the schedule (green line) controls available power depending on time, while actual power use (black line) is safely within these limits.
Advantages of the power scheme:
The result: lower costs, more stable operation and more sustainable use of the electricity grid – perfect for homes, businesses and depot charging.
Charging all vehicles at full power at the same time is neither energy efficient nor economically sustainable. By instead prioritizing charging based on the vehicle’s departure time, we can use the available power in a smarter way – without leaving anyone with an empty battery.
Advantages of departure time controlled charging:
This type of dynamic control is particularly suitable for residential, commercial and depot charging – where vehicles are parked for a long time but do not need to be charged immediately.
Our backend load balances all OCPP compliant hardware to protect the property’s main fuse against overload and at the same time maximize the total power available for EV charging. We can load balance statically against a fixed power budget or dynamically, which means that the power budget for charging in real time relates to the property’s power consumption. We support both DLM (Dynamic load management) and ALM (Adaptive Load Management) standards.
With our intuitive alarm management module, you can keep track of the operational status of your charging infrastructure. It analyzes fault codes, automatically classifies alarms and suggests actions – so you can act quickly and efficiently.
Smarter service starts with the right insights – at the right time.
In addition, you monitor the charging points’ session data, see limits for e.g. uptime, automatically generate alarms and suggest action.
Our backend is integrated with an OCPI-compliant API that enables standardized and secure communication with other e-mobility systems and actors. This makes it easy to exchange data with external platforms – without exposing our entire infrastructure.
Advantages of our OCPI-API:
Our API is the obvious interface to create seamless charging across network boundaries – without compromising control or data security.
ChargeNode handles the payment with the charging customer and reimburses the facility owner via a self-invoice, completely without administration. All you need to do is post the invoice.
We have worked with almost all types of hardware and most brands of charging stations for many years. We have a deep understanding of how they work in operation and this is knowledge that we bring to every meeting and every decision. We have also developed our own hardware which, to put it mildly, is probably the best on the market.
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